858 



GERMAN-FRENCH WAR. 



hotly-contested fight, from the battle-field. 

 The losses of the French were as heavy as their 

 resistance had been obstinate. Closely pressed 

 by the pursuing cavalry of the Germans, they 

 were forced to retreat during the night of Jan- 

 uary 3d, from Arras to Douai. On January 4th 

 General von Bentheim succeeded more easily 

 in scattering the "Army of Havre," which, 

 under General Roye, was drawn up on the left 

 bank of the Seine, opposite Rouen. On the 

 Loire, there was no lighting until January 6th. 

 Not until Gambetta went from Bordeaux into 

 the camp of Ohanzy did the latter risk a new 

 offensive movement. But one corps of the 

 army of Frederick Charles at once marched 

 through Vend6me against him, repulsed him, 

 not far from Azay, and on January 7th ad- 

 vanced as far as Nogent, Le Rotrou, Sarg6, 

 Savigny, and La Chartre, that is to say, to the 

 eastern boundary of the department of the 

 Sarthe. 



More important combinations were in the 

 mean while preparing in the east, where Gen- 

 eral Bressolles, with a considerable force, was 

 advancing from Lyons along the frontier of 

 Switzerland, in order to join the corps of 

 Bourbaki, near Montbeliard, and to raise con- 

 jointly with it the siege of Belfort. General 

 Werder therefore evacuated, on December 27th 

 and 28th, Dijon and the vicinity, and concen- 

 trated his troops near Vesoul, where he sum- 

 moned to his reenforcement the troops watch- 

 ing Langres, in order to oppose a sufficient 

 force to the advancing enemy. The French, 

 nevertheless, considerably outnumbered the 

 Germans. According to French accounts, their 

 total force consisted of about 120,000 men, 

 three army corps being under the command 

 of Bourbaki, twenty-four battalions under 

 Bressolles, ten under Cremer, and twenty un- 

 der Garibaldi. In the German headquarters 

 at Versailles the position of Werder was re- 

 garded as so critical that the Second (Pome- 

 ranian) Corps of the besieging array of Paris 

 and the Seventh (Westphalian) Corps of the 

 First Army were sent to his aid. These troops, 

 in connection with those of General Werder, 

 were to constitute the Fifth German army, or 

 the Army of the South, which was placed un- 

 der the command of Manteuffel. But, before 

 the reinforcements of Manteuffel had arrived, 

 Werder learned that the French were advan- 

 cing on Belfort, and he therefore ordered his 

 troops to march in three columns into the val- 

 ley of the Lisaine. At Villersexel, the right wing 

 of the Germans encountered the French, and, 

 notwithstanding the violent fire from the 

 French batteries on the heights, the villages 

 of Marat and Moimay were taken and held. 

 As this position was, however, unfit for the 

 defence, Werder, during the night, withdrew 

 his troops to HSricourt, and thus concen- 

 trated his whole force on the line extend- 

 ing from Champigny through Chenebier and 

 Ohagey to Bethoncourt. The position was 

 strong by nature, and Werder still more 



strengthened it by means of intrenchments, 

 while Bourbaki was advancing through Arcy to 

 Montbeliard, and through Beverne to Chene- 

 bier, where he took up a position covered by 

 a wood. On January 15th he made a violent 

 attack on the line Chagey-MontMliard, in order 

 to force the road from Hericourt to Belfort. 

 The battle lasted for nine hours, but ended 

 without result. The next day Bourbaki re- 

 newed the attack with equal energy, but also 

 without any result. He, therefore, changed 

 his plan of operation, and during the night the 

 front of attack was pushed forward northward 

 through Louthenans upon the line Chagey- 

 Chenebier. At the same time an attack was 

 made upon Bethoncourt, in order to prevent the 

 troops posted there from taking part in the bat- 

 tle on the right wing. But Werder had already 

 received sufficient reinforcements, not only to 

 repulse the attack, but to drive the French 

 back beyond Chenebier. The loss of the Ger- 

 mans in the three-days' fight amounted to 

 1,200 men ; the loss of the French, exclusive 

 of those captured, was at least as large again. 

 On January 18th Bourbaki began to retreat 

 in a southwesterly direction, partly because 

 he had to abandon the hope of breaking 

 with his discouraged troops through the Ger- 

 man lines, partly in order to turn his front 

 against the troops of Manteuffel, which were 

 advancing from Gray, and, if possible, to reach 

 the road to Besangon. Manteuffel had arrived 

 as early as January 13th in Chatillon-sur-Seine, 

 and on January 16th had marched from there, 

 with the troops hastily collected, toward Gray, 

 in order to thrust his force, like a wedge, be- 

 tween the army of Bourbaki at Vesoul and the 

 Garibaldiaus at Dijon. On January 18th the 

 headquarters of Manteuffel were established at 

 Gray, and on January 21st his right wing, the 

 Second Corps, under Fransecky, encountered 

 the Garibaldians and the Division Pelissier. On 

 the same day Dole was occupied, and thus the 

 connection between Bourbaki and Garibaldi 

 interrupted. As in the mean while the troops 

 of Werder had likewise resumed the pursuit, 

 Bourbaki found himself obstructed on three 

 sides. The garrison of Belfort had made no 

 effort to support the operations of Bourbaki. 

 The beseiging army, on the other hand, had 

 continued its operations against the outworks 

 of the French ; and in the night of January 

 20th had taken the last of them, the village of 

 Perouse. Thus the French were confined to 

 the fortress and the forts, and the Germans 

 were enabled to open the trenches. 



In the mean while the fate of the Army of 

 the Loire had been decided. The army of 

 Prince Frederick Charles, with which the 

 corps thus far commanded by the Grand-duke 

 of Mecklenburg-Schwerin had been embodied, 

 was marching on three roads, from Chartres, 

 from Orleans, and from Blois, upon Le Mans. 

 The Tenth and Third Corps had severe encoun- 

 ters at Ardenay and Parigue" 1'Evfeque, and on 

 January llth at Change*, but on January 12th 



